Reference no: EM133507472

Case Study: contains a situation where ethical leadership is needed. The case describes a department chair, Angi, that must choose which student will get a special assignment. Angi received a grant for research work over the summer and that it includes money to fund one of the TAs as her research assistant. In Angi mind, the top two candidates are Roberto and Michelle who are both available to work over the summer. However, there are other two candidates that give four available options to Angi to determine which is most ethical. The ethical option should be the option that gives the best candidate who is available to work over the summer and carry the research work as required. Angi should concentrate on the objectives of the research and select the candidates who carry best research. The ethical options would be Analisa since she is a very good researcher and writer and her skills would be an asset to the project.

From the principles of distribute justice, I believe that Analisa should be well served.The principle of distributive justice states that ethical leaders respect others, serve others,manifest honest, show justice and build community. Analisa should be given an equal shareor opportunity according to individual need, the person's right, individual right, societal contribution and individual merit or performance.

From Heifetz perspective, Angi can use the decision to help her department and faculty to face a difficult situation.

As a leader, one must use authority to mobilise people face tough issues (Northouse, 2016). Angi should use authority to get people to pay attention to the issues, to act as a reality test regarding information, to manage and frame issues, to orchestrate conflict perspectives, and to facilitate decision making. According to Heifetz, leadership involves the use of the authority to help followers deal with the conflicting values that emerge in rapidly changing work environments and social cultures.

Burns argues that it is important for leaders to engage themselves with followers and help them in their personal struggles regarding conflicting values. This resulting connection raises the level of morality in both the leader and the follower (Northouse, 2016). For Burns,it is the responsibility of the leader to help followers assess their own values and needs in order to raise them to a higher level of functioning, to a level that will stress values such as liberty, justice and equality. Angi should not have the top candidates in her mind. She should consider four of them and find a basis of selecting the best candidate for the position. The basis of selection should stress values such as justice, equality and liberty.

In conclusion, ethics and morals are regarded as very personal and we resist having others judge us about them. We also resist judging others. Angi should serve others by being altruistic, placing others welfare ahead of their own in an effort to contribute to the common good. I believe that justice requires that leaders place fairness at the center of their decisionmaking, including the challenging task of being fair to the individual while simultaneously being fair to the common interest of the community.

Question 1: Justify your proposed solution and explain the reasoning you used to identify your solution.
Incorporate the justifications you provided in response to the Case 15.1.

Question 2: Apply the ethical framework(s) outlined in the Learning Resources or in other scholarly literature that aligns with your reasoning. Explain how your reasoning aligns with those frameworks.